


Summer

by antiRePurp



Series: Bygone: A Sonic Boom Setting [1]
Category: Sonic Boom (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2019-12-06 20:35:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18225110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antiRePurp/pseuds/antiRePurp
Summary: “For Summer, With Love - Mom”A series of one-shots and short stories united under the same name and topic.Occasional swearing might slip through my filter, but otherwise this is suitable for all audiences.





	1. Junk

“Ames you can’t throw THAT away!”

“Sonic, I’ve literally never seen you wear this. Don’t be ridiculous,” Amy dismissed the blue blur and tossed a dusty t-shirt onto a large pile of old clothes and other items.

“Man I hate spring cleaning,” Sonic muttered under his breath, and reluctantly threw another clothing article onto the pile.

“Dude, why do you own this many clothes when you barely wear them anyway?” Tails asked, and threw an unused pair of socks across the room.

“And why do you keep them at Amy’s?” Knuckles butted in, tossing a pair of pants and nearly causing the pile to topple over.

“Ames is more organized than I am,” Sonic sighed. “And has more storage space.”

“Storage space that I would love to use for MY things for once,” Amy commented, snatched the trashed pair of jeans Sticks was wearing on her head, and added it to the ever growing pile. “I’m surprised you had this much stuff though.”

“He’s a worse hamster than I am, and that’s saying something,” Sticks said, and put another pair of pants on her head.

“I didn’t even know I had all this stuff, it’s been years since I’ve touched it,” Sonic protested.

“Which is why we’re throwing it out,” Amy smiled. “You’ll be much happier when you don’t have to worry about these in the future.”

“I wasn’t worrying about them to begin with,” Sonic noted, “But go off I guess.”

Amy rolled her eyes, and resumed searching the cardboard box in front of her. She remembered some of this stuff. An old photo of her, Sonic and Tails from way back when, back when Amy found a polaroid camera on the flea market. Some foreign currency. A cool-looking rock, which Amy handed over to Sticks. A... book? Amy had never taken Sonic for the reading type, especially with his ADD. Amy opened the cover. The first page had some writing on it.

“For Summer, With Love - Mom”

“Summer...?” Amy wondered out loud, before slamming the book shut as she realized. Sonic turned to look at her sharply.

“Did you... say something?” he asked.

“No, no, it was nothing, just... thinking out loud,” she stammered. “Some... some plans for summer, that’s all.”

Sonic knew that wasn’t it, but let it slide.

“When’s Shadow coming over, anyway? That pile’s getting a bit large, it’ll be harder to teleport to the junkyard if we keep adding stuff to it,” Tails worried. Before anyone could give him an answer a bright light flashed in the room. Shadow appeared in the middle of it, stumbling just a little bit as he materialized too close to the junk pile. Shadow took a careful look at the pile.

“...I’m...” The sheer amount of stuff in the room rendered Shadow speechless.

“You uh, think you can get that to the junkyard?” Sonic flashed an awkward smile.

“...let’s hope so...” Shadow muttered. He snapped his fingers, and both the black hedgehog and the pile disappeared. Shadow reappeared a few seconds later. He took a deep breath.

“The good news is that the junk is no longer our problem...” he started.

“And the bad news?” Amy asked.

“...Eggman might pay us an angry visit when he sees what’s happened to his garden.” Shadow concluded.

“Dude, that’s nowhere near the junkyard!” Sonic exclaimed.

“It was a lot of garbage,” Shadow grunted. “You try teleporting that much junk at once some time and see how well that goes.”

Sonic grit his teeth and exhaled. “Okay, great, we just. Need to get all that stuff back. No big deal. It’s cool.”

“Why?” Shadow raised his eyebrow. “I mean, sure, it’s your old stuff, but it’s not like Eggman can’t take care of it after he’s had a fit over it.” Tails coughed. Knuckles and Amy shared a look. Sticks pulled a second pair of pants on her head and slowly sank behind the boxes in front of her. Sonic inhaled deeply, then exhaled. This was no time to panic about this.

“Shads, look, that junk, it’s... Eggman can’t have it. It’s... personal, you know?” Sonic tried to explain. “We gotta get it back. Like right now.” He stepped forward and grabbed Shadow’s wrist.

“Teleport us there,” Sonic demanded. Shadow pulled his arm out of Sonic’s grip.

“Slow down, I can’t just take us all there,” Shadow protested. Sonic grit his teeth again.

“Take ME there, then. Tails can fly everyone else. We need to get that junk back. Now.” Shadow wasn’t taken back by the outburst, but did find the sudden sentiment odd. The pile had seemingly contained only old clothes and some miscellaneous items. What could’ve possibly been so important about them?

“Fine,” Shadow gave in. “Don’t let go.” He grabbed Sonic’s hand, and the two disappeared in a flash of light. An awkward silence fell into Amy’s house.

“So he... he doesn’t know?” Sticks asked as she stood up.

“I mean... he hasn’t been hanging out with us for that long,” Tails said. “And I don’t think he looked at the junk that closely.”

“Should we tell him?” Knuckles suggested.

“No, no, it’s up to Sonic,” Amy explained. “If he wants to explain it to Shadow then he will. It’s none of our business.” She noticed she was still holding the book. She flipped over the first page to check the title of the book.

“Children and Felines - A God’s Journey from the Beginning of Time to the End of Everything”

She wasn’t sure what she had expected, but that wasn’t it. Amy put the book aside. She’d have to ask Sonic if he wanted to keep that one.

 

***

 

A bright flash illuminated Eggman’s front door for a brief second as Sonic and Shadow dropped down onto the ground in front of it, both sticking the landing. Sonic took a look around. The pile wasn’t here.

“It’s in his back yard, where the garden is,” Shadow confirmed. “I gotta admit he’s got a knack for gardening stuff, the place was stunning before... y’know.”

“It’s almost a shame he’s more into being a nuisance than a botanist,” Sonic smirked. He and Shadow took off, speeding to the side of the building into the moat filled with lasers and robots. Both of them were quiet in the midst of evading the beams of light and trashing the bots, partially because Shadow still wasn’t good with teamwork, but mostly as the junk pile bothered both of them, although for different reasons. Sonic looked at Shadow from the corner of his eye. Shads had been around for a while, yeah. Sure, Sonic wouldn’t count on the black hedgehog saving his life at a tricky situation just yet, but it’s not like he didn’t trust the guy to some degree. That, and these things had a tendency to come up eventually anyway, either the nice way or the nasty way, and the current events were steering rapidly towards the nasty way. He didn’t want Shadow to know like that. That would be extremely stupid.

“Shads,” Sonic called out as he dropped down from a homing attack. Shadow shoved a chaos spear into the last robot in the near area, and turned to look at Sonic. Sonic swallowed. It wasn’t a big deal. Shads would be cool with it. There was literally no reason for him to stress about this.

“Yeah?” Shadow asked. “What is it?”

“There’s. Something you should probably know,” Sonic said, taking the long way to get to his point. “Y’know, about that junk, and me I guess.”

“Okay?”

“That stuff’s... really old. Really, really old stuff. I’ve changed a lot since I last, well, did anything with it.”

“Yeah I saw.”

“Anyway, I just... What I’m trying to say...”

“Get to the point, Sonic.”

“I’m trans,” the blue blur concluded. The moat fell into silence. Shadow stared at Sonic, who was getting visibly more uncomfortable. Maybe he should’ve kept his mouth shut.

“I mean, I just figured you-”

“That’s cool,” Shadow interrupted him. “Sorry, I just... didn’t expect that.”

Sonic didn’t really know how to respond to that. He carefully turned around, and started jogging towards the back yard. Shadow caught up with him at ease, and skated at his side.

“I don’t wanna sound rude,” Shadow broke the silence. “But... why didn’t you bring this up before?”

“I don’t wanna sound rude either, but...” Sonic sighed. “I’d rather not out myself to transphobes.”

“You thought I was-”

“I assume the worst, okay? That’s kinda what you gotta do if you wanna stay safe.” Sonic was silent for a moment. “I... I’d rather not get someone on my tail because they think I’m better off dead or something.”

Shadow didn’t respond right away.

“That’s... understandable,” he said after a while. “Sorry.”

“It’s cool,” Sonic assured.

The moat finally opened up the Eggman’s back yard. In the middle of the carefully trimmed trees and bushes and gentle flower arrangements stood the junk pile. Some clothes and items had fallen off of it, but otherwise it was perfectly in tact. Sonic tapped his communicator.

“Tails, how’s it going?”

“We’re flying over there right now. Might take a minute though. Also the plane can’t carry all the stuff, so Shadow has to teleport at least some of it out of there.”

“Okay, cool. See you in a few.” Sonic looked at Shadow.

“Think you can teleport a smaller pile of trash to the junkyard?”

“Probably. The fewer things I need to handle the better my sense of direction is,” Shadow confirmed.

“That doesn’t make any sense?”

“Imagine having to carry a huge pile of stuff in an open field, and you have to take it all to one side of the field, but you can’t see ahead of yourself, and things look mostly the same anyway.”

“It’s like that, huh?”

“Yeah.” Shadow walked over to the pile, trying to estimate the size of it.

“If Tails can take, say... a third of this on the plane, I think I can make it.”

“Good thing we have Amy, she could stuff a car into a closet and still have room for six winter jackets somewhere in there,” Sonic joked.

“What is going on out here?!” a familiar voice interrupted the hedgehogs’ chatter. Eggman barged outside, horrified at the sight of the junk pile.

“My garden! You’ve ruined it!”

“Chill, Eggbreath, it was an accident,” Sonic explained. “We’re gonna take it out of here as soon as Tails and Amy get here with the plane.”

“Do you have ANY idea how long it took me to shape out all those bushes that you’ve destroyed with your JUNK?!” Eggman yelled. “What is this even, pants? Since when have YOU worn any pants?!”

“You’d be surprised,” Sonic muttered, and snatched the pants back from Eggman. “Like I said, chill, we’re gonna get it out of here. I’m sorry about the bushes, okay? I can ask, I don’t know, Sticks or Knuckles to help you plant new ones if you want me to?”

“I’d rather eat a raw onion and wash it down with vinegar,” Eggman grumbled. He looked around the yard. At least the pile was somewhat contained, and hadn’t touched the roses. Aside from a notebook. He walked over and picked it up. Luckily it hadn’t damaged any of the flowers. Sonic noticed the notebook Eggman was holding, and dashed over, attempting to grab it from the man.

“Give me that!”

“Whoa, dude, what’s with the attitude?” Eggman asked as he raised his hand, preventing Sonic from getting the book. He looked at the cover of it. There was a name scribbled on it.

“Summer Theresa Needlemouse?” he read out loud. Sonic jumped, and snatched the notebook from Eggman. He didn’t say a word as he threw the notebook back into the pile. Shadow glanced over at Eggman, giving him a nasty look. Egmman raised his eyebrow.

“Your sister or something?” he asked as casually as he could, and brushed up the roses a bit.

“You could say that,” Sonic responded. Eggman cleared his throat.

“You know, Sonic, I-”

Before he could finish his sentence a plane gently landed in the back yard, far enough from the flora to not damage it. Tails and Amy hopped down from the seats.

“Oh great, the cavalry’s here,” Eggman muttered.

“You should be glad we’re here to clean up and not to kick butt,” Amy commented. “How much do we need to carry?”

“A third’s enough, more would be pleasant though,” Shadow said. The three hedgehogs and the fox began stuffing the junk into the plane, slowly depleting the pile. After a while the pile had been reduced significantly, and Shadow deemed it to be small enough for reliable teleportation.

“Thanks, Tails,” he said, looked at the pile and snapped his fingers. Both Shadow and the pile disappeared in a flash of light, and Shadow reappeared a few seconds later.

“It’s at the junkyard all right.”

“Wait, couldn’t you just teleport the other pile there too?” Sonic asked. Shadow blinked.

“Yeah, that’s... that makes sense, actually, why didn’t we-”

“Guys, I spent the last 20 minutes of my life packing this plane so there’s enough room for both us and the junk, and I am not unpacking it until it reaches the junkyard, no matter how convenient teleporting might be,” Amy growled.

“Yeah, uh, at least this way there won’t be any teleporting-related accidents, huh?” Tails laughed awkwardly. Sonic and Shadow sighed, and got on the plane. They flew off towards the junkyard, leaving Eggman to his guilty-pleasure botany. The doctor had some bushes to plant, and they weren’t going to plant themselves.


	2. Nightfall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: Suicide mention

“Give it a shot, I’m sure you’ll like it.”

“Hey, I’m always down for a good mystery,” Shadow smiled as he walked out of Amy’s house. “See you tomorrow!”

Reading with Amy and discussing books with her was a delight. Not only did they have a similar taste in fiction (though Amy also enjoyed some of the more graphic and bloody works), they both loved to analyze the stories they read in great detail, piecing them down to their bare essentials. Shadow had always enjoyed reading, but he had never had someone to share the joy with.

Shadow exited the woods and arrived to the beach. The sun was setting, coloring the sky a deep orange, and dancing on the silent waves. Shadow kept staring at the horizon. He preferred sunrises, but... the sight was captivating. He looked up at the sky, and spotted some faint stars. A smile visited on Shadow’s lips. This had to be why Sonic lived on the beach.

After a minute Shadow resumed walking. He had gotten on more friendly terms with Team Sonic, maybe even to the point where could be considered a member of the group. As a result everyone (more precisely Sonic, Amy and Tails) had offered to house him if he so desired. Shadow had been hesitant at first, but by now it was practically routine for him to sleep at a different house every couple of nights. He was staying at Sonic’s tonight. Shadow knew he and Amy had taken their sweet time tonight, and didn’t want to worry Sonic by being even more late. Not that Sonic was the kind of guy to worry, but...

The walk wasn’t a long one. Shadow arrived to the shack. The lights were off, so he assumed Sonic was asleep. Shadow took care to not squeak the floorboards too much, and snuck in.

Sonic was sitting on the floor across the room.

He was crying.

Shadow inhaled sharply. Sonic raised his head just as sharply as he heard the noise, his pupils shrinking.

“I’m okay!” he hiccuped. “I’m... it’s...” Sonic lowered his head again, and resumed his quiet sobs. Shadow swallowed. He had never seen Sonic like this. Hell, he had never seen anyone like this.

He slowly walked across the room, and sat next to Sonic. Shadow cleared his throat.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” he asked.

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“I can try.”

Sonic raised his head again, and his eyes met Shadow’s. Sonic leaned back until he felt the wall. His hands were still wrapped around his knees.

“I hate everything,” he said. The corner of Shadow’s mouth twitched briefly. He was very familiar with the feeling. Sonic was quiet for a bit, the sighed.

“I just... Ugh.”

“Take your time.”

“I’m... so scared. Of everyone. And what they think of me.”

Shadow shifted his eyes to the floor. He was... also quite familiar with the feeling, yet again.

“Sure, no one here knows, and I want to keep it that way... but what if they knew I wasn’t cis? Would they treat me differently? Would they hate me? How many of those people would turn their backs on me if they knew the truth?” Sonic fell quiet again. He frowned.

“And now Eggman, he... I don’t know, he probably knows, it’s not the most... radical name change ever.”

“Don’t forget that he’s an idiot.”

“Says the guy who was fooled by a poorly edited video clip,” Sonic sighed. Shadow opened his mouth to say something, but changed his mind. Now wasn’t the time to banter and bicker.

“If he does anything nasty to you I’ll destroy him,” Shadow said. Sonic let out a tired chuckle. He stared out the doorway, into the setting sun.

“I... I wish I was anything else,” he sighed. “Anything that’s not so... broken. And stupid.”

“You’re not-”

“I know,” Sonic interrupted. “But that’s how I feel, right now anyway.” They were quiet.

“I have good days,” Sonic muttered. “Days when I like myself. Days when I’m proud of myself, and who I am. But... not every day is a good day.” Shadow turned to look at the blue blur.

“Today, I just... I want to die. I want to stop existing. I wouldn’t have to worry about any of this if I just-”

“Stop,” Shadow said, interrupting his friend. Sonic shifted his tired eyes to him.

“I... I can’t say I know exactly what you’re talking about, the context of it,” Shadow continued. “But I understand your feelings. I’ve experienced similar feelings.” He turned to look at Sonic.

“Please don’t say that things would be better if you were dead. It... really isn’t true.”

Sonic sighed.

“Sonic, I... your friends care about you.” Shadow paused. That felt like guilt-tripping.

“And this world... there’s so much in it,” he continued. “Things that you haven’t experienced, or seen. There are so many things to enjoy, there-”

“Shadow I’m not suicidal,” Sonic interrupted. “I’m just sad and tired and scared of awful people.” Shadow swallowed. So much for being helpful.

“I appreciate the concern, but I’m not going to kill myself. That’s... I’m not... no.” Sonic fell silent. The hedgehogs looked at the horizon again. The sun had almost sunken into the sea. Night was falling.

“I need sleep,” Sonic muttered and stood up. Shadow rose as well.

“Sonic,” he said. Sonic turned his head.

“You’re a great guy. I... I don’t think of you any differently now, than I did before, if it makes you feel any better.”

Sonic smiled briefly.

“Thanks.”


	3. Coke

“A chilidog, and a coke. No fries.”

“Would you like fries with that?”

A moment later Sonic walked to the dining area, picked the usual table, and put down his tray.

He had gotten the fries anyway.

Not that it was worth it, they were cold and greasy and no amount of ketchup was going to fix that. For a moment a thought asked Sonic if it had been intentional, but he quickly pushed it away. Everyone gets shitty fries at Meh Burger, it was one of the few things in this world that remained unchanged no matter what happened. Sonic took a sip of the room-temperature coke. Something about Meh Burger’s absolutely mediocre and disappointing food felt like a metaphor. A metaphor...

“...for my life,” Sonic chuckled tiredly. He took a bite out of the chilidog. The middle of it was cold. He would’ve asked for nothing more of this establishment that barely passed as a fast-food restaurant. Let alone a place to get food at.

“Sonic.”

The hedgehog nearly choked on his chilidog. He had not noticed Eggman standing behind him. The doctor slapped him in the back, knocking the food out of his throat and causing Sonic to cough it on the table.

“Geez, I admit that I’m pretty terrifying but that’s a bit too much,” Eggman commented.

“What do you want, Egghead?” Sonic grunted from in between his coughs. His throat was on fire, and the chili was only partially responsible for it. Eggman cleared his throat.

“I uh, wanted to talk to you about the other day.”

Sonic’s ears perked. The other day. The... yeah. Other day. That day, that sure was a day that happened, and it probably shouldn’t have. That day. The day that is the very reason Sonic wasn’t going to be sorting out his things ever again. That day.

“What about the other day?” Sonic responded as nonchalantly as he could, and proceeded to take an unnecessarily long sip out of his coke to focus on literally anything else. Eggman looked around briefly. The ‘restaurant’ was mostly empty. The doctor took a seat next to the hedgehog. Sonic gave him a look, and shuffled away from him a bit.

“You uh, left in a bit of a rush. I didn’t have time to, well, talk to you,” Eggman said. Sonic frowned.

“Talk to me about what?” he asked slowly. Eggman fiddled his thumbs.

“Well, you know.”

“No, really, what is it?” Sonic scoffed, and quickly rolled his eyes. He knew what Eggbreath was on about. Sonic just didn’t want to talk about it with him.

“It’s about... your sister,” Eggman explained. Sonic raised his eyebrow. Was Eggman that obvious, or...?

“Look, I’m evil, but I’m not a monster,” the doctor continued. “I saw how you reacted when I... yeah.” Sonic idly put a fry in his mouth, not paying mind to the texture.

“What I’m trying to say is... I won’t tell anyone about it,” Eggman said. “It’s none of my business, after all.” Sonic stopped chewing the fry. It might’ve tasted like gasoline, but if it did he didn’t notice.

“...thanks, Egghead,” Sonic mumbled, clearly confused by what had just taken place. The feeling didn’t last long though.

“Wait, is this just another elaborate plot that-”

“Oh stop it,” Eggman interrupted him, filled with offense. “I have standards, you blue cactus. I said I’m evil, not a monster.” The doctor pushed back his chair and got up way more dramatically than necessary, snatching a fry from Sonic’s tray in the process.

“And this is just between you and me,” he said while observing the cold slice of a potato-like substance. “If anyone ever says something about that to you...”

Eggman tossed the fry in his mouth, deeming it edible enough.

“I’m just a call away with my arsenal of robots and weaponry.”

The doctor walked over to the Eggmobile, jumped on, and flew off. Sonic stared after him for a moment.

He took another sip of the coke, and smirked a bit.

Of course there was no carbonation left.


	4. Video Games

“Who wants Meh Burger?!” Knuckles shouted as he entered Tails’ house.

“Don’t put them on the couch!” Tails hurried to stop the echidna from dropping the greasy bags of fast food onto the innocent sofa. Sonic and Shadow followed the fox, carrying some chips and dip to the coffee table in front of Tails’ TV.

Amy and Sticks were having a girls’ night out, or a sleepover. Whatever it was the guys were not invited to it, and therefore had decided to have their own hang out night of video games and junk food. The kids did deserve a break from all those Eggman attacks, after all.

After placing the appropriate amount of paper in between the Meh Burger bags and the coffee table Tails turned his attention to his cardboard box of video games.

“What do you guys wanna start with?” he asked. “I’ve got the original Tomatopotamus, and Tomatopotamus 3 & Goggles, for the Ultra Drive that is.”

“Dude those give me headaches...” Knuckles muttered.

“Oh, crap, I forgot. Sorry.”

“It’s okay, but we can’t play them the whole night. Or I can’t, anyway.”

“You have some 3D games though, right?” Sonic asked. Tails nodded, and dug deeper into the box.

“Tomatopotamus Expedition and Expedition 2, but those don’t really have any multiplayer stuff. Tomatopotamus Champions, Potatotomatus, Tomatopotamus 2006... And after that we’re out of multiplayer stuff, honestly.”

“Take ‘06, it’s fun,” Sonic grinned. “Let’s see who falls through the floor the fastest.”

“So it’s not a good game then?” Shadow asked.

“Oh no, it’s the BEST one!”

“Stop misleading him, Sonic,” Tails rolled his eyes as he put the game in.

“Hey, what can I say, I like it,” the hedgehog smiled. Shadow looked at Knuckles, who shrugged.

“I don’t mind it,” the echidna said. Shadow focused his attention to the TV. He hadn’t really played video games in his life, he didn’t know what was good and what wasn’t. The title screen popped up, and the cool soundtrack accompanying it blared in the living room. Tails quickly grabbed the remote and turned down the volume.

“Okay, uh, it’s only two-player stuff, but if you don’t mind watching-”

“It’s more fun that way, honestly,” Sonic smiled. “Let’s make teams. Me and Shads versus you and Knux?”

“So an ‘06 enthusiast and a guy who’s never played any video games before against a mediocre speedrunner and a fake gamer?” Tails smirked.

“A PROUD fake gamer,” Knuckles puffed up his chest.

“Speedrunning won’t get you S ranks,” Sonic pointed out. “But hey, if Shads is down for it too then-”

“Sure,” Shadow interrupted. “As long as you give me time to get adjusted to the game and all.”

“Of course,” Sonic smiled, and gave the black hedgehog a thumbs up. “Alright, let’s roll!”

***

A few hours later the snacks had started to deplete and the boys were getting gradually more tired. Tails and Shadow were playing an intense round, while Sonic and Knuckles were leaning back on the couch, yawning a bit. Bed time was near. Knuckles stretched out his arms.

“So Eggman was cool, huh?” he asked. Sonic nodded.

“Yeah, I... wasn’t expecting that, that’s for sure. But I guess it’s nice to know people are backing you up,” the hedgehog replied.

“At least the village has been mostly chill about it.”

“Well, it’s not like most of them know,” Sonic shrugged. “I’d like to keep it that way.”

“I feel you,” Knuckles smirked. “Not easy being ace. A dumb one, for that. I get way too many people asking me if I’m a plant or something.”

“I totally photosynthesize that, bro,” Sonic chuckled. “Back when I was in school I got so many weird looks after I came out and changed my style.”

“Oh small town schools are the WORST. Or, well, so I’ve heard, anyway.”

“Yeah, it’s true. People just can’t handle you if you don’t subject to a norm. And then the ‘normal’ people tend to be the assholes in the end. Like those guys who loved shouting at me in the halls and telling me I’d never get a boyfriend when I look like this.”

“Oh my god.”

“Yup. And I’ll never forget their faces when Ames shouted ‘Well you’re never getting any pussy when you act like that’ back at them.”

Knuckles bursted into laughter.

“Amy Rose more like Savage Rose!” he giggled. “Man, I would’ve just punched them in the face. Amy’s way better at this than me.”

“Ames is a gift,” Sonic smiled.

“Amy said trans rights.”

“Hell yeah she did.”

“Booyah!” Tails shouted. “I won!”

Shadow placed down the controller, and yawned.

“You sure did, kid.”

“So we tied?” Sonic asked. “That’s lame.”

“Maybe if you had picked a more stable game we could’ve gotten different results,” Tails commented nonchalantly. Sonic smirked.

“Not my fault you have a bad taste in video games,” the hedgehog taunted a bit.

“Oh shut up,” Tails smirked back at his bro. The fox gathered some of the trash off of the coffee table.

“I can clean up if you guys set up the couch,” he offered.

“How does it-”

“You lift the cushions and unfold the bed,” Tails instructed as he walked towards the kitchen. Sonic started packing up the game and the console, and Shadow and Knuckles begun unfolding the couch.

“Are people really like that to you guys?” Shadow asked. Knuckles nodded.

“Some people are, yeah,” the echidna confirmed. “That’s just what happens.”

“Then again, there are also people who are cool about it,” Sonic reminded. “Like. Eggman, apparently.”

Shadow was quiet for a moment.

“I mean, I’ve never really thought about this sort of stuff,” he said. “I just say that I’m a man because, that’s kind of what my body is? But I don’t really care about it at the same time. Or something like that.”

“No, no, I get you,” Sonic said. “I mean, I say that I’m gay, but only because it’s easier than to list exactly how my romantic and sexual orientations work. People know what gay means, but they don’t know all those obscure labels that probably would describe me a lot better than just ‘gay.’”

“Yeah, it’s like, I’m ace, and... wait no, I’m just ace,” Knuckles frowned. “At least I think I am. Oh man, what am I?”

“The coolest,” Sonic smiled, and patted Knuckles on the back. He turned to look at Shadow.

“Do you wanna talk about this stuff with us and figure things out?” Sonic offered. Shadow thought about it for a moment.

“Not right now,” he said. “Not when it’s nearly midnight, anyway.”

Sonic chuckled.

“I feel you.”

Tails flew in, carrying some sheets and blankets.

“I have Shadow’s hammock set in the kitchen, so if Sonic and Knuckles can share the couch we’ll be all set,” he proposed as he placed the fabrics onto the couch.

“Aw, but Sonic rolls around in his sleep!” Knuckles complained. Shadow grabbed a blanket and headed towards the kitchen.

“I’m sure he’s not that bad,” the black hedgehog smiled on his way.

“At least I don’t always hog the blankets,” Sonic squinted, and started placing the sheets onto the mattress. After a few minutes of soft arguing and blanket adjustments Tails’ house fell into silence, as the kids dozed off to sleep. The game night had been a success.


	5. Mom

Tails went over his shopping list one more time. He needed some spare parts for his plane, a new wrench after Sticks had somehow broken the other one, sour cream- no, that had been added on by Knuckles. The fox was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn’t even notice the lady walking directly towards him, and thus the two bumped into each other, and fell over.

Tails groaned as he got up.

“Oh, I-I’m so sorry, ma’am,” he apologized while looking for his shopping list. He needed the thing, there was no way he knew how to pronounce one of the parts his plane was in need of at all.

“Oh, no, I’m the one who should be apologizing, little dude,” the woman laughed as she pulled herself off the ground, and picked up her phone. Tails finally took a look at her. The lady was an indigo hedgehog, whose quills were all over the place: two of them on her head pointed upwards, the two on the back of her head were tied onto a ponytail, and she had two pairs on each side of her head pointing outwards. She was wearing a bright green tank top, and a yellow skirt with flowers all over it. She had a golden ring on her right ankle. And she had brown sandals. No socks, thankfully.

“You’re not from around here, are you?” Tails asked. He could’ve sworn the woman looked familiar somehow...

“No, I’m from a few villages over. Ever heard of Possum Town?”

“It, uh, sounds delightful!”

“Yeah the name isn’t that flattering,” she laughed again. “It’s actually a pretty populated place, despite the name. No rodent problems, I can assure that.”

“What brings you to Hedgehog Village then?”

“Oh, I’m actually looking for my daughter,” she explained. Tails raised his eyebrow. Then she definitely couldn’t be...

“I haven’t seen her in some years now, so I thought I’d pay her a visit. But no one seems to know her around here, which is weird. I could’ve sworn she said she was moving over here.”

“What’s her name?”

“Summer. Do you know her?”

Tails racked his brains for a moment.

“I can’t say I have? That’s strange though, I know a lot of people in this village but no one named Summer.”

“That is strange,” the woman muttered. “I mean, sure, back then this place was called Badger Village, but I did do my research.”

“Well, I hope you’ll find her soon!” Tails smiled. “Oh, who are you, by the way?”

“Dawn Needlemouse,” she introduced herself. “And you are...?”

Tails opened his mouth briefly, but closed it, rethinking his answer.

“I’m Tails. It was nice meeting you, mrs Needlemouse!”

“Dawn is fine, I’m not THAT old!” Dawn laughed, and waved Tails a goodbye as she walked off. Tails scratched his head for a moment, before resuming his mission for plane parts and sour cream- no, a new wrench.

***

Later that day Tails was sitting on Amy’s couch, stirring his tea. Sonic, Knuckles and Sticks were off doing something at the volcano. It was probably dangerous, hence why Shadow had gone with them to ensure no one got burned to a crisp. Tails had passed on the trip as he wanted to fix his plane, and Amy had her hands full cleaning up the mess from the spring-cleaning from a few days back. The two of them had decided to meet up for a well-deserved tea break.

“How’s the tea?” Amy asked as she sat down next to Tails.

“Good. Hot, but good,” the fox answered. “Good job on cleaning up that mess, by the way.”

“Thanks,” Amy smiled. “It would’ve helped if you guys had helped me clean it up afterwards, but...”

“Oh, uh, sorry, we just- I-”

“It’s alright,” the hedgehog chuckled. “How was your day? More exciting than mine, I bet.”

“Well, I did go to town to get some parts for my baby,” Tails smiled. “I ran into this nice lady while I was there. She was looking for her daughter, but had had no luck.”

“What’s the girl’s name? I might know her.”

“Summer.”

Amy nearly spat her tea all over the carpet.

Tails stared at her, unable to say another word.

“Summer, huh?” Amy inhaled, as she tried to collect herself. “What was that woman’s name?”

Tails blinked.

“...Dawn.... Needlemouse?”

Amy slammed her cup on the coffee table. It was a miracle that the force didn’t shatter the poor thing.

“Oh, so SHE’S here, looking for her DAUGHTER, huh?” Amy hissed from between her teeth. “Well it certainly is too bad the the only girl she will ever have the pleasure to come across is THIS girl and her HAMMER.”

Tails blinked again.

“Amy, hold on, I-I don’t understand, why are you so upset at her? She seemed so nice, a-and-”

“She is Sonic’s mother.”

Tails froze. So that’s why she looked so familiar. But... she...

“She seems nice, yeah, until you get to know her,” Amy continued, now up and walking around the room in an attempt to control her anger. “She’s the worst person I’ve ever met, the way she had the audacity to treat her own child, and now she’s looking for him yet she’s being a completely and utterly insensitive about it like the Meh Burger employees at the drive through.”

“A-Amy, I, I don’t understand, is she... is she really...?”

Amy stopped on her tracks, and took a deep breath. Or two.

“I. Don’t usually want to talk about this stuff. It’s not my place to talk about Sonic’s life like that,” she explained. “Under any other circumstance I would tell you to ask Sonic about it.”

Tails swallowed.

“But that woman... she is garbage. And Sonic would agree on that, mark my words,” the hedgehog continued.

Amy took another deep breath before sitting down in her armchair.

“This all happened before we met you. Back when we lived a couple of towns over. Sonic and I grew up in the same neighborhood, you know that much. And before he came out, things were mostly fine and dandy. Dawn wasn’t the BEST mom, but I guess she tried, I don’t know. But the moment Sonic came out everything went south.”

Tails shifted on the cushion.

“He first told me, and after he explained what it all meant I fully supported him. He came out to my parents, too, before he ever told Dawn, because he spent a lot of time at our place. My parents were cool about it. But then he told Dawn.”

Amy paused.

“She was...”

Tails blinked. The silence was deafening.

“I don’t know every detail. But I do know I didn’t see Sonic for a while. Maybe it was a day or two, maybe a week. I don’t really remember.” Amy paused again, trying to recall the past.

“When I did see him again... He came to our house one night, it was way past midnight. He was... upset. And I remember his clothes looking like they had been thrown in the trash or something like that. Dawn was... planning on sending him to that sort of, conversion therapy, or whatever that bullshit is called.”

Tails’ eyes widened.

“I got so upset. I wanted to go beat up Dawn on that very second. I don’t know if it’s a good thing I didn’t do it,” Amy continued. The corner of her mouth twitched.

“Sonic couldn’t stay at our place. Dawn would’ve found out. So my parents, mom and dad, they... gave us some money. Us, both of us. It was so hasty of them, but they, uh, told us to go. Into the woods, anywhere really. We packed some bags, took what we needed, and left. I had my phone in case something happened, Sonic didn’t have even that... And we ran. Across the town and into the woods. We got to the next town over the following evening.”

Amy paused again.

“I guess they wanted me to go so Sonic wouldn’t have to go alone. They knew we were close, and we worked well as a pair. I don’t know.”

It was quiet again. Tails opened his mouth.

“Was that the town where we met?” he asked carefully. Amy nodded.

“Yeah. We did stay there for a while, mostly so my parents could help us out if we needed something.” Amy smiled.

“They... really are the best. I should visit them at some point...”

She shook her head.

“Anyway, Dawn was furious, or so I heard. Furious or worried, who cares. She put up missing posters, so did my parents, for the show, but of course they never found us. And once the coast was clear we moved on.”

“With me,” Tails said quietly. Amy nodded again. They were quiet.

“I’ll text Sonic and tell him to avoid the village for a little while,” Amy broke the silence. “I should maybe stay near the beach too, who knows, maybe that shell of a woman remembers me.” She got up, and gathered the tea cups. Neither Amy nor Tails had finished their tea, but it had gotten cold anyway. Tails fiddle his thumbs. It was a lot to take in, and clashed harshly with the person he had met earlier, but... he did trust Amy. Despite the anger issues she was still a good person, and she wouldn’t just talk ill of someone without a valid reason. Maybe he should ask Sonic about this sometime, though.

“Are we doing something tonight?” Amy asked, interrupting Tails’ thoughts.

“Uh, I don’t know, the weather was supposed to be nice tonight so we could hang out at the beach?”

“Oh, that sounds really nice, actually!” Amy smiled, back to her usual self. “We should definitely ask those reckless three and Shadow if they’re down for it.”

Tails chuckled nervously, and glanced at the woods outside the window.

“Yeah.”


	6. Love

“So you’re just going to sit inside all day?”

“What do you want from me,” Sonic muttered and rolled around in his hammock. Sticks shook her head.

“If I’m not allowed to do that, then neither are you,” she protested. “Come on, everyone’s waiting for us.”

“I’m not going out until she’s gone,” Sonic stated. “I’m done with her.”

“You’re going to starve and die and become food for the sea-dwelling snail-people before she leaves.”

“You don’t understand how I feel about this.”

“Oh really? Tell me, when’s the last time I contacted my parents?” the badger countered. Sonic turned his head to look at her. They shared a moment of silence just staring at each other firmly.

“Your parents don’t visit you,” Sonic concluded and turned his face against his pillow again. Sticks groaned.

“Dude, it’s been three days. We can’t keep bringing you junk food just so you stay alive.”

“You could cook something.”

“Sonic that isn’t the point and you know it,” Sticks growled, gradually getting annoyed at the hedgehog’s attitude. “Look, I wouldn’t want to face my parents either. That’s one of the reasons I stay indoors a lot, because I’m paranoid they’ll just show up one day without a warning. But if I, me, the schizophrenia aficionado and a paranoid lunatic, can leave my house to hang out with my friends, then so can you and your mommy issues.”

Sonic turned his head slightly again.

“Besides, what’s she gonna do? Tell you to come home? Because I doubt she has custody over Sonic T. Hedgehog,” Sticks smiled. Sonic stared at her for a moment. He then sat up, groaning reluctantly.

“Okay, fine, I’ll come with you guys,” he sighed. “But only if we pay a visit to the junkyard afterwards.”

“Need to beat up some stuff?”

“Oh, most definitely.”

***

The kids were walking through town. They had stopped for some lunch at Meh Burger, and got some ice cream afterwards. The day had been going smoothly, overall, and Sonic was finally starting to relax a bit. The group sat down at a fountain, looking at the people passing by (and shoving each other into the water). Shadow turned to look at Sonic, and smiled. The blue blur was finally getting back to his element.

“I heard you and Sticks had junkyard plans later today?” he asked. Sonic nodded.

“Yeah, need to let out some steam again.”

“Wanna race there?”

“Oh, you need to punch some trash too?”

“Anytime,” Shadow chuckled. Sonic grinned, and looked directly at Shadow. Before the ultimate lifeform had a chance to react Sonic had pushed him into the fountain with a splash. Sonic laughed for a bit, before getting pulled in by Shadow. Once Amy, too, got water splashed on her, the whole group was playing in the fountain, not caring about the consequences in the slightest. Some pedestrians gave them judging looks, which were responded to by one of the kids splashing some water in their general direction.

“Cannon ball!” Knuckles yelled, though he was only halfway to the top of the statue in the middle of the fountain. Sticks jumped up and grabbed his arm.

“More like cannon fall!” she screamed, and pulled Knuckles back into the water. The liquid flew everywhere once more, including a woman walking too close to the structure.

“Oh, sorry!” Amy yelled, and turned to look at the woman. She immediately froze on her tracks, and pushed Sonic behind the statue.

“Hey, what giv-”

“Amelia? Is that you?” the woman asked. Everyone else turned to look at her as well. Tails froze, just like Amy before him. It was the woman from yesterday. Sonic’s mom. Amy took a deep breath, her hands shaking. Knuckles put his hand on her shoulder.

“Deep breaths, Amy,” he whispered. Sonic peeked from behind the statue, careful not to show himself. He swallowed. It was mom, alright.

“Yeah, mrs. Needlemouse. It is me,” Amy said, as calmly as she possibly could. “How. How nice to see you here.”

“Are you okay, honey, you seem tense,” Dawn noted. Amy snorted.

“Oh, yeah, it’s just, you know, stress and that kinda thing,” she lied. “What brings you here?”

“Actually, maybe you could help me with that, since you used to hang out with her so much,” Dawn smiled. “Have you seen Summer?”

Sonic clenched his fist.

“I heard she might be around here, somewhere, but I still haven’t found her,” the mother explained as she flipped through her phone quickly.

“It’s just that I have to go back in a day or two, and-”

“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” Amy said, her voice colder than the glacier. “I don’t know anyone named ‘Summer,’ mrs. Needlemouse.”

Dawn raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t be silly, Amy, you know who I’m-”

“We don’t know anyone named Summer,” Sticks growled.

“There’s no one named Summer in Hedgehog Village,” Knuckles accompanied.

“There never has been,” Tails muttered. Shadow resorted to simply scoffing at the woman. Dawn put her phone away.

“Amelia,” she said calmly. “I don’t know what game you and your friends are playing here. I know you know my daughter. You and her were inseparable. And when you ran away, I know she must’ve gone with you.”

Amy inhaled sharply.

“Y-You, you knew that we-”

She immediately shut her mouth. The group backed up closer to the statue. Sonic swallowed.

“Your parents aren’t the best at keeping secrets,” Dawn explained. “Not after a couple of drinks, anyway.”

“Th-they don’t-”

“They do, at parties anyway,” the mother continued. “Your dad is quite the lightweight, isn’t he?”

Amy clenched her fists again, Knuckles held on to her shoulder a bit tighter.

“That hardly matters,” the Rose spoke again. “I stand by what I said. I don’t know anyone named Summer.”

“Amelia, don’t be-”

It was over before anyone knew it.

Amy pulled out her hammer, and dashed for the woman. Her footsteps splashed the water everywhere. Knuckles hadn’t held on tight enough. And now it was too late.

“Ames!”

Amy was right in front of Dawn. Her hammer had been ready to strike. But Sonic stopped her, grabbing on to her hammer and holding it back. He was panicking.

“Ames, don’t,” he said quietly, and swallowed. Amy looked at him from the corner of her eye. Despite how upset she was, Sonic and her didn’t have to exchange words. Amy lowered her hammer.

Dawn blinked, horrified, and looked at Sonic.

“Summer...?” she uttered out. Sonic swallowed, and looked her directly into the eyes. They were full of fear.

“Sonic,” he said. “Sonic The Hedgehog.” Dawn couldn’t say a word.

“We don’t want you here, Dawn,” Sonic continued. “Go home.” He turned around, and looked at his friends.

“Let’s go,” he said calmly, and started to walk away.

“S... Sonic, wait!” the mother called out. Sonic froze on his tracks.

“I... I’m sorry,” Dawn went on. “I was... I was wrong. I shouldn’t have done the things I did.”

Sonic’s ear twitched.

“Please forgive me, S-Sonic. I’ve changed,” she pleaded. Sonic turned around. Dawn seemed to be genuinely sorry. Sonic looked at his friends. Amy was breathing heavily, her hands shaking. The others didn’t really know how to react.

He turned back to his mother.

The whole village seemed to be silent.

“I’m not the kind of person to hold grudges,” Sonic started talking. “I’m stubborn, but forgive the people who deserve it.”

Dawn stared at her offspring.

Sonic close his eyes, and smirked.

“You...”

He opened his eyes, and looked directly at Dawn.

“I won’t forgive you,” Sonic said, the corner of his mouth twitching, and his hand shaking slightly.

Dawn’s eyes widened.

“After all you’ve done to me... I have no reason to forgive you,” Sonic continued. “Go. Home. No one wants you here.”

Sonic turned around, and sped off. His friends, not hesitating for a moment, rushed after him, leaving the heartbroken mother in the middle of the village.

***

“You did the right thing,” Amy assured, as Sonic was beating up a trashbag with Amy’s hammer. “She doesn’t deserve forgiveness.”

Sonic swung the hammer as hard as he could and flung the bag over a hill of garbage.

“She seemed sorry,” he said.

“She was probably faking it to get on your good side,” Sticks theorized. “I wouldn’t trust her.”

“You don’t trust anyone.”

“Your point?” the badger replied, and leaned back on the crusty couch she was sitting on. Sonic sighed, and leaned on the hammer.

“Any other opinions?”

“Hard to say when we don’t know the whole picture,” Tails muttered, and floated down from the the remains of a car. “She did seem... remorseful, sure. And people change. But there’s always the chance that she was faking it, I suppose.”

“You don’t have to forgive people, even if they would ‘deserve’ it,” Shadow pointed out, and kicked a can on the ground. “Even if they change, you don’t have to forgive them if you don’t want to.”

“She was really mean to you,” Knuckles said, and placed an empty trash can on his head. “It’s really hard to forgive something like that.”

Sonic was quiet, and stared at another plastic bag filled with garbage. Without saying a word he grabbed the hammer, and swatted the bag over the junk hill. His friends were quiet for a moment, too.

“I think what matters here is whether you’re happy with your actions or not,” Tails broke the silence.

Sonic stared into the horizon.

“I don’t know,” he admitted.

Amy grabbed the hammer from his hand, and swatted an entire armchair across the hill.

“She’s a horrible person, Sonic!” the hedgehog yelled. “She put you through hell and back!”

The corner of Sonic’s mouth twitched.

“How could you even think about forgiving her?!” Amy continued.

“If she had been like before I wouldn’t have even considered it,” Sonic explained. “But she wasn’t like before. And I hate it.”

Amy fell quiet.

“If she had kept calling me by that name and insisted I was her little girl I wouldn’t have hesitated,” Sonic continued, his hand shaking. “But there she is, trying her hardest to call me Sonic, begging me to forgive her. I... I...”

He grabbed the hammer from Amy and swatted another garbage bag.

“I HATE IT!” he yelled out. “WHY can’t things just be BLACK AND WHITE?! I don’t WANT to think whether someone is GOOD ENOUGH to be forgiven! I don’t WANT people to change! I don’t want to be put on spot where I have to decide if I can forgive someone who’s been an awful person! I...! I...”

Sonic dropped the hammer and fell on his knees, sobbing. His friends rushed over, Knuckles gently picking him up and encasing him to a hug.

“It’s okay, buddy,” the echidna said. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

Sonic sniffed.

“Do you wanna go home now?” Sticks asked. “We could play in the mud on the beach.”

“Or just, watch a movie or something?” Tails suggested. Sonic laughed a little.

“Sounds good,” he sniffed again. His friends went in for a group hug. Sonic smiled slightly.

For now, things were alright. He was with his family, after all.


	7. Him

The forest echoed with laughter as Sonic and Sticks were making their way home. The hedgehog and the badger didn’t have all that much in common, but they both had a love for a certain kind of dangerous and irresponsible behavior that the others in Team Sonic didn’t have. Thus the two of them had started hanging out more, particularly at hazardous places, like the volcano, or the icy lakes near the glacier, or Pleasant Gardens, if they were feeling particularly daredevilish. Another day of playing with life and death was behind the duo now, though, and it was about time they headed back.

Despite it being late Sonic and Sticks found themselves wandering to a familiar clearing, a flat hill that nearly rose above the tree-level, but not quite. They hiked to the top, and looked at the sky and the dusk stars slowly blinking into existence, one after another. Sonic smiled. The sight was always a beauty.

Sticks gazed around briefly, not nearly as captivated as her friend.

“You done?” she interrupted Sonic’s thoughts. “We should probably get back, before it gets dark and the marsh monsters wake up.”

“I thought that was Muckfoot?”

“No, no, these are entirely different entities,” Sticks explained, and turned around, ready to continue walking.

“Wait,” Sonic said. Sticks stopped, and looked at Sonic. The hedgehog seemed a bit awkward.

“Could we... talk? About stuff? Before we go?”

Sticks raised her eyebrow.

“With me?”

“Yeah, with you.”

“I thought you always talked with Tails or Amy when you wanted to talk about stuff.”

“No I don’t!”

“But you literally do.”

“Okay maybe,” Sonic reluctantly admitted. “But I... I don’t wanna talk to them about this.” He shifted his feet.

“I already bother them a lot with stuff. And Tails is still a kid, too.”

Sticks walked next to the hedgehog, and sat down next to him.

“Okay, what’s up?” she asked, and flopped down to the grass. Sonic sat down as well.

“Um, well, this is, kinda hard to talk about,” he begun. “It’s just... really stupid.”

“We just spent our entire day at a large cliff seeing how close to the edge we could jump before the whole thing comes crashing down, how stupid can your thing really be?” Sticks smirked. Sonic smiled briefly.

“It’s a different kind of stupid,” he said. He cleared his throat.

“There’s... someone I, kinda like.”

Sticks raised her eyebrow.

“You mean, like-like?”

“Yeah,” Sonic nodded. “He’s... great. Really great. Super cool.”

“Sounds nice,” Sticks smiled. “So, what’s the problem? Just tell him how you feel or perform a mating ritual or whatever works.”

“I- Well okay that’s a problem too, but I...” Sonic went quiet. Sticks let him. The hedgehog took a deep breath.

“I’m just... scared,” he explained.

“Of what?”

“That he... he won’t like me.”

“Why wouldn’t he like you? You’re a pretty neat guy.”

The corner of Sonic’s mouth twitched.

“Because... I’m... not cis?” he said quietly. Sticks went quiet. She then shook her head.

“No, no, dude, why would that matter?” she asked.

“Because. People are awful. And everyone wants sex,” Sonic explained, still quietly. “And I’m... I’m a...”

“Don’t,” Sticks said, and jolted up from the ground. “You’re not. A million times, you’re not. You’re a guy, a person, not a... yeah.”

Sonic ruffled his quills.

“Am I ‘guy’ enough though?”

“Absolutely. You’re more ‘guy’ than anyone in the entire village, that’s for sure,” the badger assured. Sonic was quiet.

“...I know he’s cool with trans people,” he said. “I’m pretty sure he’s cool with dudes, too. But I just... I can’t help it.”

Sonic looked up at the sky.

“I can’t help but to doubt everyone I know and everyone I love, even if they’ve told me a million times they love me the way I am.”

Sticks looked at the forest. She started to realize why Sonic had wanted to talk to her in particular.

“Look,” she said. “It’s tough, being paranoid that your friends would stab you in the back, even when you know they’d never do that. I know how you feel. But you have to push through, you can’t give in to those kind of thoughts, and let them control your life.” She looked up at the horizon.

“I did that for too long. And I regret it, a lot.”

The kids stared quietly into the horizon, listening to the wind and their thoughts.

“We love you, Sonic,” Sticks broke the silence after a while. “Please don’t forget that.”

Sonic smiled a little.

“And whoever this guy is you mentioned...” the badger continued. “I’m sure he’ll respect you. And if he doesn’t, I’ll break his kneecaps.”

“Dude!” Sonic laughed.

“Hey, I have a pretty good mace I found a while ago and it’s just begging to get used,” Sticks grinned. She pulled herself off the ground and stretched.

“Okay, we seriously need to start heading back, or it’ll get dark and we’ll probably die or get lost in the darkness of the void or something,” she said.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Sonic admitted, and got up. “Hopefully Ames made dinner tonight, I’m starving.”

“She better have, I’m not eating that scummy frozen pizza ever again.”

“Oh man, don’t remind me,” Sonic shook his head with a laugh. The kids headed down the plateau and into the woods, finally ready to go back home. Sonic smiled.

He was a really lucky guy when he thought about it.


End file.
